Wednesday, 7 June 2023 08:25 pm
Book Review: Recursion
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deckardcanineNo, it has nothing to do with the webcomic of the same title, tho I probably would read that in novel form. Blake Crouch says in the acknowledgments that this was easily his hardest book to write. Whether he still says so in the wake of Upgrade, I don't know, but I suspect so.
The 2019 book begins in an alternate 2018, when a phenomenon called false memory syndrome is common enough that strangers immediately understand if you say, "I have FMS," but also new enough that most people have no idea what causes it. Basically, it means having at least one alternate set of memories. Those who have it can easily tell which memories actually apply to their present, as the other memories appear colorless to them (not sure whether completely colorblind people are more confused), but it's still usually distressing, perhaps especially to those who prefer another reality. Many FMS sufferers commit suicide. But middle-aged NYC Detective Barry Sutton soon has reason to believe it's not sheer delusion: Some "false" memories match too completely for coincidence. His off-the-books inspection gives him more answers than he bargained for.
Barry is the first focal character; the other is Helena Smith, a scientist of similar age eager to cure Alzheimer's before her mother dies. The two don't naturally move in each other's circles, so it takes a while for them to meet, but once they do, their lives will be thoroughly tied. After all, Helena can be deemed the accidental source of FMS, with help from the enigmatic, manipulative Marcus Slade.
The third-person narration is in the present tense by default. That helps a lot for clarifying when someone dwells on the past. It also seems to enhance the intensity of the moment.
I've been dancing around the cause of FMS, but giving my whole reaction requires me to touch on it. Despite the detective, this isn't really a mystery, so I don't consider the following a major spoiler. If you'd rather play it safe, skip to the last paragraph in my cut. Here, I'll use an asterisk to make it easier.*
Helena creates a machine that maps a vivid memory from a subject and makes it even more vivid for them. What she doesn't count on is that their mind literally returns to that moment -- and can direct their body to do things differently from before. Yup, accidental time travel. And when the subject gets back (taking the scenic route, if you will) to the date on which they had previously been put in the machine, everyone else whose life has changed in the process suddenly gets FMS.
I'm undecided on which story proposes a bigger paradigm shift: this or Snow Crash. Here we're to understand that our perception of time is practically an illusion. Reminds me a little of a premise of Arrival, albeit with more detail thrown in. Even the heroes never fully make sense of the mechanism.
Fortunately, once you comprehend the gist, it's easy to get into the drama. I don't picture myself committing suicide because of a timeline in which I was already dead (nobody recalls an afterlife), but I accept that having lived more than one life "simultaneously" yet "suddenly" would be hard to cope with. Besides, imagine how much trouble someone could cause beyond FMS, whether they mean to or not. Now imagine the federal government finds out about the technology. And then it gets leaked to hostile nations. Not only can one person going back decades change history tremendously, but thanks to FMS, everyone will know, and forgiveness will be in short supply.
You have to feel sorry for a lot of people here, but Helena most of all. Believing that only she can clean up her own enormous mess, she takes a sort of Edge of Tomorrow approach to try again and again, only with much longer cycles. No wonder she becomes a shell of herself toward the end. What would she do without Barry?
*In short, as much as Crouch aims for and largely succeeds at intellectual stimulation, I'm no less interested in the emotional side. The same could be said of all the best sci-fi. I hope my folks like Recursion as much as I did, and I hope to enjoy another Crouch effort someday.
In the interest of sticking with shortish reads a while longer, I've picked up another new present, Monsters Born and Made by Tanvi Berwah. At least it should have a lot less swearing as a YA novel.
The 2019 book begins in an alternate 2018, when a phenomenon called false memory syndrome is common enough that strangers immediately understand if you say, "I have FMS," but also new enough that most people have no idea what causes it. Basically, it means having at least one alternate set of memories. Those who have it can easily tell which memories actually apply to their present, as the other memories appear colorless to them (not sure whether completely colorblind people are more confused), but it's still usually distressing, perhaps especially to those who prefer another reality. Many FMS sufferers commit suicide. But middle-aged NYC Detective Barry Sutton soon has reason to believe it's not sheer delusion: Some "false" memories match too completely for coincidence. His off-the-books inspection gives him more answers than he bargained for.
Barry is the first focal character; the other is Helena Smith, a scientist of similar age eager to cure Alzheimer's before her mother dies. The two don't naturally move in each other's circles, so it takes a while for them to meet, but once they do, their lives will be thoroughly tied. After all, Helena can be deemed the accidental source of FMS, with help from the enigmatic, manipulative Marcus Slade.
The third-person narration is in the present tense by default. That helps a lot for clarifying when someone dwells on the past. It also seems to enhance the intensity of the moment.
I've been dancing around the cause of FMS, but giving my whole reaction requires me to touch on it. Despite the detective, this isn't really a mystery, so I don't consider the following a major spoiler. If you'd rather play it safe, skip to the last paragraph in my cut. Here, I'll use an asterisk to make it easier.*
Helena creates a machine that maps a vivid memory from a subject and makes it even more vivid for them. What she doesn't count on is that their mind literally returns to that moment -- and can direct their body to do things differently from before. Yup, accidental time travel. And when the subject gets back (taking the scenic route, if you will) to the date on which they had previously been put in the machine, everyone else whose life has changed in the process suddenly gets FMS.
I'm undecided on which story proposes a bigger paradigm shift: this or Snow Crash. Here we're to understand that our perception of time is practically an illusion. Reminds me a little of a premise of Arrival, albeit with more detail thrown in. Even the heroes never fully make sense of the mechanism.
Fortunately, once you comprehend the gist, it's easy to get into the drama. I don't picture myself committing suicide because of a timeline in which I was already dead (nobody recalls an afterlife), but I accept that having lived more than one life "simultaneously" yet "suddenly" would be hard to cope with. Besides, imagine how much trouble someone could cause beyond FMS, whether they mean to or not. Now imagine the federal government finds out about the technology. And then it gets leaked to hostile nations. Not only can one person going back decades change history tremendously, but thanks to FMS, everyone will know, and forgiveness will be in short supply.
You have to feel sorry for a lot of people here, but Helena most of all. Believing that only she can clean up her own enormous mess, she takes a sort of Edge of Tomorrow approach to try again and again, only with much longer cycles. No wonder she becomes a shell of herself toward the end. What would she do without Barry?
*In short, as much as Crouch aims for and largely succeeds at intellectual stimulation, I'm no less interested in the emotional side. The same could be said of all the best sci-fi. I hope my folks like Recursion as much as I did, and I hope to enjoy another Crouch effort someday.
In the interest of sticking with shortish reads a while longer, I've picked up another new present, Monsters Born and Made by Tanvi Berwah. At least it should have a lot less swearing as a YA novel.